


Chances

by scarletladyy



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-01
Updated: 2010-06-01
Packaged: 2017-10-09 20:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/91459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletladyy/pseuds/scarletladyy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's only one way for Lucius to escape Azkaban after the war, and that's to work as a teaboy for someone he hated. As life goes on, time heals old wounds and opens new doors, ones he thought he'd never have access to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chances

**Spring 2000**

Lucius' feet echoed around the Ministry halls as he made his way down to his office. _Their_ office. It wasn't just his, he shared it with Granger. As far as he was concerned, his life was a joke now. He was working in the _Department for Misuse of Muggle Artifacts_ and that was just because it was his only way to escape Azkaban.

The current Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, had recognised that Lucius and his family had made sacrifices in the face of the Dark Lord and had offered him a get out clause to escape prison: work in the Ministry. Of course, they didn't really trust him as far as they could throw him, so they started him off in the Muggle department as a teaboy. They thought he could do least damage with Muggle things and they hoped it would lessen his prejudice.

It had. A little bit. But Lucius wasn't going to let them know that. He wasn't going to show any weakness to the people who'd made his life into hell, into a joke. Narcissa had left him soon after, not able to have her high society parties anymore without the shame, and he didn't have a clue where Draco skipped off to every day. His family had broken apart and he wasn't sure if he'd've been better off locked up, but then he wouldn't be able to keep his mind busy and his thoughts would drive him insane.

Thankfully, he hadn't been the teaboy for long. Granger had taken pity on him - which he hated - and offered him a job of equal standing to hers, so they were partners. He didn't want her feeling sorry for him, but he was far too ashamed to stay as a mere teaboy after everything he'd been through, so he took her up on it.

"No thank you?" She'd asked after he said yes, but he didn't think he should be grateful for such small pities. Particularly not with her, since she was part of the group who'd brought his life crashing down at his feet. Serving the Dark Lord wasn't all rose and peaches, but it was much better than the life he had now, so he'd just given her a look, and she seemed to get the message. She even seemed to understand a little, and that irked Lucius though he didn't know why.

Lucius turned into their office; Granger was already there, working away as usual. She always seemed to be there before he was, and so set up it looked like she never went home. He often wondered if she ever married, but it didn't really concern him so he put it to one side.

"Morning," she greeted him with a smile, but he only returned her with a curt nod, like always. "Lucius -" He sighed inwardly, he knew what was coming. It'd been coming for a while now. "I'm not asking us to be best friends, but I at least want us to be able to talk to each other."

Lucius ignored what she said and picked up the report on his desk. "They found the person responsible for turning that pocket watch backwards every hour."

"Everyone said I was crazy hiring you."

_What was she getting at_? Lucius thought, pretending to bury himself in it, but the paper was too short so he couldn't stare at it for too long. He picked up the next on the pile. "Someone's made a pram automatic. We need to fix that as soon as possible."

"I thought I'd give you a chance, though. Ron said I was an idiot."

_So she did shack up with Weasley then. Was he content with hardly ever seeing his wife?_

"Well," Granger sighed. "Ron said a lot of things."

_Apparently not._

"Aren't you going to say anything?" She asked at last, after a few minutes of silence had passed.

Lucius stood up. "I must go fix that pram."

"I meant about what I said." She was tapping her foot on the ground in irritation now, but she was trying to hide it. She wasn't doing a very good job.

He shrugged and left the room. He didn't have time to listen to her wittering on about them getting along. He was only in her company because he had to be.

**Autumn 2000**

"We've been working together a few months now," she said on a beautiful summer's morning. Not that Lucius really had much to be appreciative of anymore; Draco had moved out last week and not explained where he was going. Lucius was worried his son was doing something stupid like trying to set up another Dark Side, but he hoped after what'd they'd been through he'd been turned away from that. "And I don't know a thing about you."

"What do you want to know?" Lucius said, knowing that if he didn't say anything she'd keep badgering on with her own thoughts. The easiest way was to just answer her questions thick and fast.

"How's Narcissa?" Granger smiled as though she'd known them as a couple for years.

"She left me." Luicus said gravely, not looking in Granger's eyes. "When I took this job."

"Oh," Granger sighed and lowered her eyes. "I'm very sorry to hear that."

"Are you?" Lucius challenged, staring at her now to see if there was any wavering in her face. "_Really_?"

She ignored that. "Ron left me too, you know."

"I gathered."

"I work too much, apparently."

Lucius couldn't understand for the life of him why she was telling him all this.

"Do you think I work too much?"

Lucius shrugged. How should he know nor care.

"And Mal-" Granger stopped herself. "Draco. How's Draco?"

"I haven't a clue." Lucius really didn't want to talk about his broken family with someone who used to be his enemy.

"Oh. Why not?"

"Do you mind?" Lucius snapped, sick of listening to her rattle on.

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking back at her work and starting to write again. "I didn't mean any harm."

"Nosy bitch," he muttered under his breath. She looked up, but he didn't think she'd heard him as her expression was pretty neutral.

After a few moments of silence - and Lucius was surprised she could keep her trap shut for so long - she spoke once again. "You're almost as good as me now, you know."

_Almost_. That word hit Lucius pretty hard. Almost? Really? He was far older than her and had much more experience with magic. The fact that they were placed upon muggle objects was neither here nor there. "Why thank you for such kind words," he said sarcastically, but she didn't seem to realise his tone of voice and smiled at him.

There was only one job in this whole building that Lucius wanted. It was a job he'd wanted since he was a schoolboy and he thought working for the Dark Lord would provide him that chance once he took over. Yes, Lucius had firmly believed He would take over and he'd been promised so much. As far as he knew, only Voldemort knew of his desires. It never did any good to rally them around, to let people know too much, but being the Minister of Magic was something he truly wanted. So much power, so much he could do and so much he could change. Of course, after everything that had happened, he really didn't think he'd ever be allowed that position, but as he was a Head of Department, along with Granger, he was allowed the chance to go up for the job if it ever became available. Lucius knew the chances of Shacklebolt retiring were remote, but since hope was all he had left in this world, there wasn't much else he could do but.

"Penny for them?" Granger asked, stirring him out of his mind.

"What?" He responded rudely, glad to get away from reality for once.

"You looked like you were deep in thought." Granger must have understood Lucius didn't have a clue what she was on about as she clarified her earlier statement. "It's a Muggle phrase. Nevermind."

Lucius sighed. Granger and her muggle ways got on his nerves and it really didn't help that both their jobs were focused around Muggle artifact. Lucius was convinced Shacklebolt assigned him here as some sort of cruel and weird joke. He could've been a teaboy in any department the Ministry had.

"I had a few friends round for dinner last week," Granger said, not looking at him. "Well, I do it every week, but still."

"Oh?" He replied, pretending to be interested.

"You'd know them," she smiled at him. "Harry and Ginny obviously, Seamus -"

Granger rattled off a whole list of names and after the first three he really couldn't be bothered. Those were his son's enemies at school and he didn't recognise the first names, he only knew their last as that's what Draco called them by.

"It was fun." Granger looked like she was remembering a particular scene, but Lucius didn't bother asking about it. "Do you see people much?"

Lucius shook his head. Of course he didn't, who'd want to be seen with him?

"Shame," she sighed. "Perhaps... No."

"Hmm?"

"Forget it, it doesn't matter." Granger was shaking her head as though she wished she hadn't said anything. Lucius couldn't have cared less what it was so he didn't encourage her to go on, he never did when she went like that and he half suspected she did it on purpose, to prompt his interest in the conversation. He was just glad it'd stopped at last.

**Winter 2000/2001**

The cold was biting at Lucius' neck as he made his way through the snow filled street. It was dark and lit up solely but streelamps, but they could do with new bulbs and didn't plant half as much light as they were supposed to. With the weather and the mood he was in, Lucius nearly turned around, ready to Apparate back to his warm, comfortable manor, but he'd promised her. Mentally he kicked himself for doing that, but he was trying to build a reasonable reputation; there were rumours going around that Shacklebolt was moving on and if there was a chance it was true, Lucius was going to do his best to build up his character references.

If Granger could verify he was a good worker and stuck to what he said, he'd be considered at least, instead of being seen and dismissed without an explanation. Lucius knew Granger wanted interaction with him at work, that's why she never shut up. Even if it was just to stop the silence, which she apparently hated. Secretely, over the months, Lucius had grown to like the conversations the two of them had, but he'd never tell her that. He didn't appear as uninterested as he used to, or he hadn't since the rumours had started flying around, but he wasn't the most active person in a conversation.

For months Granger had been bugging him to come to one of her weekly dinners and until those rumours had started, he'd catagorically denied. He didn't want to spend his evening with a group of people who hated him, and one who pitied him. He didn't even see why it was such a big deal to her, why should she care if he had a social life or not? So here he was, standing outside a fairly nice sized house in a cul de sac. Doubts flashed through his mind as he made his way up to the door, but he forced his hand to the doorbell. Once it had rung, there was no turning back, and that's exactly what he needed to keep him still, so he didn't run off in the opposite direction as he so wanted to.

"Ahh, Lucius," Granger smiled at him. "Come in. Here, I'll take your coat."

"Thanks," he muttered as he passed it into her open hands.

"I've invited some people more your own age tonight. I hope you don't mind -"

"No, no," he shook his head. "That's very nice of you."

"Pleasure."

The smile on her face seemed perfectly fixed. Inwardly he sighed at what he was about to do, but there was no backing out as she led him into a large dining room. The oak table in the middle of the room had plenty of seats around it and the luxurious beige patterend chairs looked as though they must've cost a fortune. As he scaled the room, he realised he was the last one to arrive as there were only two seats left; one for him and one for Granger. Too much dawdling on the way there, he knew that, but at least he'd made it at last.

"Sorry I'm late," he mumbled, seeing everyone's starters already out. It was soup, but it was green, and Lucius had never seen anything like it has he sat down next to her. He looked to his right and got the shock of his life. "Wea-" He caught himself just in time. "Arthur? Is that you?"

The ginger haired man next to him nodded, but he didn't smile. There was a ginger haired woman sat next to Arthur who was regarding him with a pointed look on her face, and he recognised her as that Prewitt girl. Molly, she was called, if he remembered rightly. Lucius hadn't been friends with these two at Hogwarts. In fact, his group had specialised in making fun of them whenever they could, so it was hardly surprising he wasn't greeted with smiles, particularly after everything that had happened since they left school.

"You know Remus," Granger pointed to the shabby looking man opposite him. "And Minerva." Granger went around the table introducing everyone, but she really didn't need to. Not one person greeted him as though they wanted to be there. They must really like Granger a lot then, Lucius thought, if they were putting up with him for her.

"Of course, you know Draco," Granger said suddenly, but softly. Lucius looked up, shocked - his son was sat in the very corner of the table where he hadn't recognised him before. What on earth was he doing here?

"Draco? Why are you -?"

Draco didn't respond, just nodded his head towards the ginger woman sat next to him. Another Weasley, he figured, probably the one Granger referred to as 'Ginny' a lot.

"You didn't know?" Granger gasped, clutching her hand to her mouth as though she'd made a massive faux pas. "They're... together."

Lucius eyebrows raised. Whatever he'd been expecting, this wasn't it. What a night to find out. _Play it cool_, he told himself. It would do him no favours if he flipped out in front of everyone.

"Congratulations." Lucius' voice was quiet. "You should've said. Is that why you moved out?"

Draco nodded. "I didn't know how you'd respond, father."

"Doesn't seem like your son has much faith in you, does it?" Arthur said, ignoring Lucius' glare. "Don't know why we should."

"Arthur!" Molly hit her husband on the arm. She was probably thinking it too, though, Lucius thought, branding her a hypocrite in his head.

"Tuck in," Granger said, nodding at the soup. Lucius noted that it didn't look very appetising. As though reading his mind, Granger spoke. "I don't know how it came to be this colour -"

He forced a smile, taking a spoonful. Well, it tasted better than it looked, that was for sure. There was silence around the table for the next two courses, until Lupin started up some mundane conversation about the moon that Lucius didn't even think was worth listening to, never mind joining in on.

"So," McGonagall spoke to him during pudding. "How do you like your job, Lucius?"

Lucius looked up, stunned anyone would want to speak to him. Mind you, he had always known what sort of a person she was. "It's great," he muttered. "Something to do..." He knew he had to lie about liking this job if he was to have any chance of getting the Minister's. "I wish it was more..." he chose his words carefully, "taxing, though."

Granger stared at him, but McGonagall responded civilly. "I understand."

After that, nobody else spoke to him and now he really wished he hadn't come. He didn't realise it would have been _this_ awkward. It was ridiculous. When it was finally time to go, an overwhelming sense of relief swept over Lucius, and he'd never been glad to leave one place so fast in all his life.

"Goodbye," he muttered to Granger as he walked out into the frosty night air, pulling his collar up around his neck to keep the cold out. He concentrated on Malfoy Manor carefully, Apparating himself back and settling down with a whiskey, still trying to come to terms with the fact his son had moved out to be with a Weasley.

*

"lenged, staring at her now to 2C father."

Lucius sat quietly behind his desk in his office, a couple of days after the disastrous meal. Only seconds ago had Draco walked in with a worried look on his face; he clearly hadn't expected Lucius to be there.

"I just thought -" Draco sighed. "Well, I don't know what I thought."

Lucius didn't speak. He was angry, but not as angry as he would have been before the fall of the Dark Lord; then it would have been life threatening.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Draco demanded at last, the silence clearly being too much for him.

Inwardly Lucius sighed. "How long have you been together?"

"A while."

"Morning, Lucius," Granger came waltzing into the room, her hands flicking through letters she was focused on. "I have good news -" She stopped in her tracks when she saw Draco. "Oh, I'm really sorry, I'll just -"

Lucius shook his head. "It's fine. Draco was just leaving." He watched his son leave without another word, wanting more time to digest what had happened.

"I'm sorry," Granger said softly as she sat down behind her desk. She was worrying at her bottom lip and fidgeting with her feet.

"Don't worry about it," Lucius waved his hand away as though it was nothing.

"I thought the dinner was -"

"-intersting?" Lucius finished her sentence for her.

"You could say that." Her lips were pursed together now as though she was slightly annoyed. "My apologies about Arthur. He's been through a lot recently, and with me and Ron..."

Lucius really couldn't care less, but he knew he had to go through the mundane subjects to get to the interesting ones. "So what's the good news?" He asked when she'd finally shut up.

"Oh, right," she smiled. "I'd forgotten about that. It's Kingsley, he's leaving."

"Really?" Lucius sat straight up so fast in his chair he nearly fell off it.

Granger nodded. "I'm going to apply for his job. What do you think?"

Lucius hadn't counted on this. "I was going to do the same."

Granger looked confused. "Seriously? You've only been here -"

"I'm far more experienced than you will ever be," he said to her, getting defensive. Sensing he wasn't going to give up, Granger didn't say anymore on the subject.

"Good luck then."

**Spring 2001**

Today was finally the day Lucius had been waiting for...the day Kingsley Shacklebolt announced who would take over him as Minister of Magic. The springtime flowers had never smelt so good and the sun was shining; Lucius was adament that he would get it, since he and Granger were the only ones brave enough to go up for the job. Since January, all the two of them had really been doing was training exercises to see who would be more competant. They didn't have any of the results back yet, but Lucius was sure he'd outshone her in all the areas.

He walked into work with a bright smile on his face, quickly stopping for a coffee on his way to the Minister's office. People gave him suspicious looks, but he didn't care, why should he?

"Ahh, there you are Mr Malfoy." Kingsley greeted him with a smile, though he wasn't sure if it was out of sincerity or politeness. "We're just waiting on Miss Granger."

Five awkward minutes later Granger ran into the room, hair disshevelled and bright red. "I'm sorry I'm late, Minister."

"It's perfectly fine, Miss Granger."

Lucius noticed his smile to her was a lot warmer than the one he received and it really bugged him as Kingsley read through the areas of which they each excelled in. From what Lucius could tell, it looked as though they were about even.

"Due to everything that has happened in the past," Kingsley said gravely, "I have decided to appoint the position to Miss Granger."

Lucius' heart sank, but Kingsley didn't stop speaking.

"However," he turned to Lucius. "I have awarded you, Lucius, with the position of Deputy."

It wasn't what he'd wanted, but it was a lot better than going back to his boring job dealing with Muggle artifacts, he knew that. He'd just have to show her he could do a better job than she could, and he didn't think that would prove too hard.

"Thank you," he managed to muster the courage to say, knowing he had to appear grateful. Granger held out her hand and he took it, albeit reluctantly.

"Guess we'll still be working in each other's pockets then," she smiled at him.

"Seems like it." Lucius tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice. "Congratulations, by the way."

"I didn't think you'd say that," she said to him when Kingsley had left the room. "It's not like you."

"Well, apparently, you and this job have changed me. A little."

"A little is better than nothing," Granger said, an all too knowing smirk lighting up across her face. "I was right to give you the job then."

Lucius nodded. "So you were." He stood up, preparing to leave to grab his things and sort out his new, larger office, but he whipped around, remembering something he should have said a long time ago. "Thank you." He didn't wait to see her response, but he could feel her smiling behind him.

"I didn't think I'd ever hear you say that."

"I guess it just shows what faith can do," he said as he opened the door to leave. "But don't you tell anyone that, mind."

"I won't," he heard her whisper softly as the door shut, knowing that this working relationship with her wouldn't be as awkward as the last.


End file.
